Despite Russian aggression in Ukraine and growing threats along NATO’s southern flank, many European allies find it difficult to increase their defense capabilities and meet the commitments they made at the Wales Summit. To address this important challenge, the Atlantic Council produced its “Alliance at Risk” report, which draws together noted experts and former senior officials to examine the vulnerabilities in European defense and provide recommendations on the way forward. The project highlights six leading nations from NATO’s north, south, east, and west, which also serves to illuminate the many perspectives and diverse defense priorities that exists within the Alliance today.The authors of the report provide insightful analysis and make specific recommendations that challenge current defense policies. Some of their key points are:

1."To deter any Russian move into the Baltic States, NATO should establish a permanent presence there.”2.“The situation on NATO’s eastern flank has posed the greatest challenge to Poland since the country regained its full independence in 1989.”3.“Russia has enough active troops (without mobilizing its reserves) to mount three simultaneous operations.”4.“The Polish military should create a robust, cost effective reconnaissance strike force based on the Russian and Chinese models.”5.“Germany cannot ‘pool and share’ its way out of the crisis of an underfunded Bundeswehr—in the end, you need to buy things.”6.“Norway cannot meet its defense obligations without a significant increase in its defense expenditures and a major reallocation of defense resources in favor of operations.”7.“Italy’s current military structure is clearly unsustainable and burdened with legacy processes and approaches.”8.“The time has come to reinvigorate the maritime strategy, so that it becomes an integral part of the Alliance’s deterrence and defense policy.”9.“It would make sense for the EU, and notably its most important economic actor, Germany, to remove defense spending from ongoing EU deficit-cutting measures.”10.Unless NATO’s VJTF “is a standing force, trained and ready with permanently allocated units and a fixed command structure it will be useless.”